Restrained: PHC stops appointments in RTI Commission

Issues notices to chief secretary, chief information commissioner

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has restrained the provincial government from making appointments in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Right to Information Commission.

A division bench of Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Roohul Amin Khan issued the stay order on Thursday while hearing a petition filed by finance officer Shah Nawaz Khan along with two others through their counsel Ijaz Anwar.



Anwar informed the court after commission’s establishment, his clients were appointed as finance officer, communication officer and administrator on a year-long contract. They were subsequently given two extensions for a year each which will end in March 2016.

“Last month the commission advertised the petitioners’ posts with the intention to appoint new candidates on a regular basis,” the counsel told the court. “The qualification criteria were also the same possessed by my clients.”

Anwar added this is discrimination against the current employees to replace them without reason. He requested the court to declare any new appointments illegal and grant his clients the status of regular employees.

Additional Advocate General Waqar Ahmad Khan said the government has decided to make appointments through the Education Testing and Evaluation Agency on a regular basis. The petitioners were appointed on a contract basis.

After hearing the arguments, the court issued a stay order on appointments and sought written comments from the chief secretary, chief information commissioner and commission secretary.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th, 2015.